Smolar Describes Visit With Jews of Bukhara
quisition. That must have during the days I, spent in also because he wore a skull- had come, how long did I in- out for the home of the
cap. No Jew in Bukhara went tend to stay in the city, was rabbi, whose name was
denoted Brazil. The aged Bukhara.
* * *
about with a bare head, and I alone or had I any com- known among all Bukharan
rabbi, however, did know
they displayed a sort of aris- panions, whether I had come Jews in the entire world, and
In
the
center
of
the
city
something
of
the
Jews
in
(Copyright 1974, JTA, Inc.)
tocratic tidiness in their ap- to visit any specific person especially dear to the an-
rose
a
soaring
tower
from
New
York,
but
it
was
of
Editor's note: This is one
in Bukhara and other such cient community of the Buk-
pearance.
which,
in
the
distant
past,
small
significance.
of the chapters from Boris
information. He spoke He- haran Jews in Jerusalem.
"Shalom!"
I
addressed
him
they
used
to
fling
to
death
News of Jews in the world,
* * *
Smolar's forthcoming book
those whom the Emir, the in an attempt to draw his brew and my replies were
mainly
from
Jerusalem,
had
his
of
high
points
relating
The
day
was an ordinary
in
Hebrew.
On
my
part,
I
attention.
of the land, had con-
journalistic experiences in reached the tiny Jewish com- ruler
work
day.
But
the rabbi was
wanted
to
know
the
size
of
He
raised
his
head,
looked
demned
to
be
executed.
In
munity in the city of Buk-
various parts of the world.
not
in
his
own
home. We
the
Jewish
population
in
Buk-
at
me
and
realized
that
I
the
center
of
the
city
there
A visit to faraway Buk- hara, through Persia. The stood rows of small stalls in was a foreigner in appear- hara, what was their means found him, a tall aged man,
Bukhara
Jews
are
descend-
hara is like sojourning in the
which sat tailors, cobblers ance as well as in apparel. of livelihood, how were they with a long white beard, sit-
land of a Thousand and One ants of Jewish families of a and other artisans, each He was unable to determine treated by the Communist ting in the synagogue, a'
Nights. People who have very ancient era in. Persia. working as self-employed whether I was a Jew or not. government and other simi- sorbed in a tome.
read these marvelous tales They believe that they origi- craftsmen, just as they had
The synagogue was locatea
"Shalom!" I repeated. "Ani lar questions.
tend to be convinced that no nated from the Ten Lost done for centuries. The Com- Ivri! . . (I am a Jew!)."
"Can you tell me where in the same courtyard as the
Tribes,
one
of
which
had
corner on earth, such as de-
He looked at me kindly your rabbi lives?" I asked rabbi's home. A Star of
munist system of working in
scribed in them, exists in our found its way to Central cooperatives or artels did not and replied in fluent Hebrew: him.
David was painted on the
Asia.
In
history
they
were
day. They cannot be more
take you to wall.
"Come.
"Gam ani Ivri! . . . (I, too,
seem to concern them.
mentioned
a
thousand
years
wrong.
Inside the synagogue_there
,him . . ." he replied. "He
I noticed a Jew sitting in am a Jew!)."
In Bukhara a visitor is past. Although ,the local lan- one of those stalls, working
were
no pews to sit in, as in
lives
in
the
courtyard
of
the
Now
that
we
had
achieved
bound to feel as if he were guage in Bukhara is Uzbek, on his sewing machine. It a sort of rapport, he com- synagogue . . ."
synagogues of other coun-
the
Bukhara
Jews,
neverthe-
living in the Orient several
He hastened to lock up his tries. The floor was covered
was easy to recognize a Jew pletely forgot his machine.
millenia ago. The country is less, nowadays regard Tad- in Bukhara by his looks, and He wanted to know whence I little shop, 'and we started
(Continued on Page 19)
remote from the civilized jik as their folk language,
world, and it had achieved because it stems from the
but scant worldly progress. Persian. Naturally, they
Throughout the year s, don't understand Yiddish at
when Bukhara had been all. But Hebrew — Yes, they
n der the Russian Czar's pray in Hebrew, they read
rule, that area was entirely the scrolls of the law, and
isolated from modern influ- are in possession, at the
ence. Foreigners, in particu- synagogue, of a number of
tomes, dating back to ancient
times.
It was easier for some
Jews in Bukhara to speak
with me in Hebrew than in
Russian. The vast majority
of them don't know any Rus-
sian at all, although they had
been living under Russian
rule for many generations.
* * *
When I arrived in Bukhara
I was ignorant of the mean-
BORIS SMOLAR
ing of the expression in the
Bible relating to the carrying
lar, were not allowed to enter of water in goat skins.
that country; and even Rus-
As a young boy I had
sians had but seldom re-
ceived permission to go there. studied in the Pentateuch
At the beginning of Soviet about "skin pails" of water
jurisdiction, Bukhara re- which were used in Biblical
mained as isolated as before. times, but I had never had
I was one of the earliest a concrete conception of what
foreigners permitted to go a "skin pail" was.
In Bukhara you can see,
there for the first time in
in our day and age, water
1930.
Three years later my visit being sold in skin pails.
turned out to be of consid-
A "skin pail" is a desic-
erable significance, both for cated pelt of a sheep in
GREETS THE ENTIRE
the very aged rabbi in Buk- which water is drawn from
J E WI SH
hara, as well as for the Buk- an open well. On my way
Ar H BEST
TWISHES
M MN TY
hara Jewish community in from the railway station to
FOR A
Jerusalem. These people in the center of the city of Buk-
_Jerusalem believed that the hara, I saw, for the first time
rabbi had been executed by in my life, water carriers
the Soviet government, and who stood near an open - well
for some years they had lowering desiccated pelts,
been memorializing his de- such as animal hides used in
mise every year. '
-the making of drums. They
* * *
pulled up the "skin pails"
The route from Bukhara to full of water, placed them on
Jerusalem is long and ardu- their heads, and cried their
ous. It winds through Afghan- "wares" along the street.
Later I observed another
istan and through lengthy
stretches of desert across a circumstance pertaining to
number of Arab lands. No water, and to the times of
one has been allowed to antiquity. Bukhara had no
leave Bukhara into Afghanis- sewer system. All kinds of
JNF VOLUNTEERS WILL CLEAR YOUR THE BLUE-WHITE BOX IS A SYMBOL
tan since the Soviet govern- foul water ran in narrow cur-
BLUE-WHITE BOX. Please have yours OF A STATE'S REBUILDING . . If you
ment had established itself rents along the streets. Chil-
ready. If your Box is not cleared by MAY do not have one in your home, ask for
finally there. I was, perhaps, dren leaned over to slake
the first foreign Jew which their thirst with those gutter
12, please call the JNF office. Members it by calling the Jewish National Fund
the Jews in Bukhara had fluids, and no one tried to
of Youth Organizations will also partici- office.
ever seen — at any rate, the prevent them. To the deni-
pate. Remember, all contributions to JNF
CHARLES MILAN
first American Jew. Never- zens of Bukhara this ap-
President
are tax deductible.
theless, I was the first Jew peared to be quite normal.
This
must
be
the
reason
that
nrair
SHERMAN SHAPIRO
MRS. KENNETH DOSIE
to convey living greetings
MRS. JULES KRAFT
Chairman, Blue Box Committee
Pres. Young Women of JNF
Pres. Women of JNF
•
from the rabbi in Bukhara you see so many people suf-
to that ancient Bukhara Jew- fering from a multiplicity of
SAMUEL S. SIMMER
PERCY KAPLAN
Chairman of the Board
Executive Director
ish-community in Jerusalem. disease, especially trachoma.
Jews
were
among
the
most
Jews in Bukhara, with
whom I had held conversa- clean people in Bukhara.
tion, had no knowledge at all Nevertheless, I had been
1 NI LEIS .ML
KAYEME
of the United States. They warned in advance not to eat
22100 Greenfield Rd. Oak Park, Mich. 48237-968-0820
had heard of a land called or drink anything even in
America, but, for them, it Jewish households. I took my
was a country to which Jews meals in the dining car of
had fled from the Spanish In- our train,. where I also slept
By BORIS SMOLAR
( Editor-in-chief-Emeritus,
JTA)
announcing ...
lue and white
box clearance
Jewish
Rational fund
happy
pas/over
-
!tatting tuesday, open 9
.
r
z
JEWISH IIATIOflIL
OPEN
18—Friday, April 5, 1974
THE DETROIT JEWISH HEWS
TH
rano